April
“So,” the smoky figure rasped, “we have a deal?”
The girl shuddered in her tight Levi jeans as she waited for the cross light to turn green or for the cars to stop coming. The bright morning sun’s warmth was lost in the shallow city, waiting for something to happen. There were things happening, things nobody should ever have to come to terms with. It was Whore City, and this girl, whose name was later discovered as April, belonged to it.
She ran across the street, her steady but worn black boots sloshed in the snow.
What am I doing? She thought about as she dodged the many pedestrians of the street, who paid no mind to her, because she was just another one of them. Just another dolled up fifteen year old, forced to claim she’s eighteen, evade the law, and sell her body. Just another one of Whore City’s…
“I’m not sure… tell me again, how much will I be making? My sister, she’s sick,” April questioned, continuously clicking the pen in and out until the man snatched it away from her. He grinned, his teeth coated in what looked like gold or silver. The room was murky, casting eerie shadow creatures over his face. Fingering one of his diamond rings he turned to her and said, “You’d be making more than any honest worker in this town. Just sign, you get paid, and you’re free to leave anytime…”
April never left, she couldn’t. She was stuck in a rut, being lied to and kicked around like no human deserved. Her feelings left her, and eventually her sister found out about her so called, “honest living,” and ran away from April.
April’s brown and blond hair wisped in the cold wind and her. She pulled a pocked mirror from her purse and examined her make up, which smeared when she wiped her eyes.
Her dull, dead eyes.
She stopped, her corner was empty. All she had to do now was wait for the loyal patrons of the city to come looking for her, the lucky ones anyway. It was just another night of work for her, something she hadn't escaped and never would. Cops arrested her several times, but that smokey man always found her and always bailed her out. Needless to say she had no idea what his face looked like, all she knew was he owned her and the money.
The city owned her as well. All she had was her make up and pocked mirror.
